Final 'Star Trek Into Darkness' trailer test Captain Kirk and the Enterprise

The moment I was hooked by the trailers for the 2009 "Star Trek" reboot was when Pike (Bruce Greenwood) challenged Jim Kirk (Chris Pine) to try to live up to the legacy of his father. The score, Greenwood's delivery, and the weight of what he was saying… all of that combined hit me dead center, and from that point on, they sort of had me on the hook.

I feel like it's a very smart choice, then, to bring this final trailer in the ad campaign for this summer's "Star Trek Into Darkness" back around to the two of them, Pike and Kirk, once again sitting together, once again discussing Kirk's potential as a leader. Pike is such a particular figure in "Trek" history, and perhaps the most significant refiguring in this new rebooted version of the "Trek" universe is the way he and Kirk deal with one another. You can't do much better in terms of mentor figures than Greenwood's Pike, and Kirk needs that voice in his ear, someone willing to push him and dare him to be a better person.

It must be awful to be an old-school "Trek" fan who doesn't enjoy these new films. I know some longtime hardcore fans who just plain can't find anything to enjoy here, and I feel like we're looking at totally different movies. I look at the work Chris Pine does as Captain Kirk, and what I see is the young man who will eventually become the confident swaggering Kirk that we saw in the original series. I like seeing him bristle at a challenge, and I think Pine's real brilliance in the part is the way he plays all the insecurity and the ego without making Kirk into a jerk. This is a guy who could well be great, but he's not there yet, and watching him start to gel with this crew should be the driving force of this film. One of the things you have to do when you're juggling a big cast like this is you have to give them all something to do, some reason to take the part. In doing so, you also create a sense that all of these people have earned their way onto the Enterprise. I like seeing them all as great at their jobs, valuable members of the team.

Amazingly, this trailer still doesn't give the whole thing away. There are some great new images, suggestions of scenes that we hadn't gotten a glimpse at yet, but they still aren't telling you everything about the movie. We still haven't really seen the Klingons. We still haven't seen the truth about everyone in the film. We're still just barely seeing the larger game that's being played. Now I hope they can keep from showing us anything else between now and release, because as it stands, I'm onboard. I don't need anything more than this to know that I'm excited to see it, and as soon as possible.
"Star Trek Into Darkness" opens May 13, 2013.

A respected critic and commentator for fifteen years, Drew McWeeny helped create the online film community as "Moriarty" at Ain't It Cool News, and now proudly leads two budding Film Nerds in their ongoing movie education.

And still not a single alien to be seen, excepting Spock, and I'm not counting Cumberbatch, since he looks completely human. (As much as Cumberbatch ever does.) Are they even exploring new civilizations at all? I keep reading a personal attack from the villain on Kirk there, too, and that seems so parallel to Iron Man 3. I really don't want to see the same movie twice.

How do you know that the personal attack is directed at Kirk? Nothing revealed has blatantly specified that. It could be Pike, or the Peter Weller character, or someone else entirely. That's what I like about JJ's marketing strategy; it leaves you guessing. Also... this trailer shows Klingons, which unless I'm mistaken, are definitely aliens. There are also the beings that are chasing Kirk and Bones through the red forest. Gotta pay closer attention, my friend.

Sort of annoys me that Kirk probably isn't going to actually ever become "Captain Kirk" in this iteration of the franchise. Maybe in the reboot in 2023. I'm already sort of tired of watching him learn lessons about hubris or ego, or whatever the screenwriting books say a hero's arc should be these days.

I'm one of those people that didn't like Trek '09. Rather than pity me (or us), why not just chalk it up to the fact that the movie just didn't work for everyone? I've agreed with some of your reviews and disagreed on others. That's just human nature.

Maybe I will like the next chapter under a different director and vision. I'm just not on board with Abrams version. I gave it a chance but I didn't like it.

I didn't say I pity you. I'm just sorry you're not enjoying new "Trek." That's all. I would imagine for a "Trek" fan, there's nothing more annoying than watching people finally get excited over "Star Trek," and it's something you don't enjoy.